ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1553021
This article is part of the Research TopicSexual and Gender-Based Violence among Adolescents and Young Women: New Evidence and Call for ActionView all 3 articles
Unseen Shadows: Exploring the Impacts of Stalking on Female College Students' Lives, Health, and Relationships in Sindh
Provisionally accepted
- 1Harran University, Şanlıurfa, Şanlıurfa, Türkiye
- 2Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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The present study examines the Victim-Stalker Relationship, the motivation of stalkers, and the impacts of stalking on female victims of a college in Sindh, through their lived experiences. Semistructured interviews with twenty participants revealed two main themes: The Victim-Stalker Relationship and motivation of stalkers, and the impact of stalking on the victims. The study found that stalking significantly impacted their lifestyle, social, and academic functioning. It also had devastating effects on their social and interpersonal relationships, as well as their financial expenses. While Pakistan adheres to international laws and enacted section 354B to the Pakistan Penal Code in 2021, which criminalizes stalking with imprisonment and fines, stalking remains a significant issue for girls and women due to ineffective enforcement. One of the main challenges is that many formal actors lack specific training on the newly enacted laws and have limited gender-sensitive and survivor-centric attitudes. This study recommends that the police and justice sectors must undergo enhanced training and focus on increasing female representation. Additionally, strategies must be developed that empower victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and reshape societal attitudes toward harassment and stalking.
Keywords: SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions; stalking, violence against women, Psychological impacts, interpretative phenomenological analysis
Received: 29 Dec 2024; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 HADI and Snoubar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yaser Snoubar, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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